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Introduction

Brumel’s Missa de beata virgine is thought to be a late work, dating from around 1510 or possibly slightly later still. It forms part of a genre of Marian Masses which are all based on plainsong—but not the cycles of related Mass Ordinary chants that are familiar from modern chant books. Instead, Brumel chooses to elaborate the melodies now known as Kyrie and Gloria IX, Credo I, Sanctus IX, and Agnus Dei XVII. Other composers who contributed to the Missa de beata virgine tradition (who include Josquin, Pierre de La Rue, Cristóbal de Morales, and Palestrina) differed slightly in their selection of chants. The modality of Brumel’s plainsongs varies: the Kyrie is in mode 1 (Dorian), the Gloria in mode 7 (Mixolydian), the Credo in mode 4 (Hypophrygian), and the Sanctus and Agnus in mode 5 (Lydian), and consequently the ranges are different, in the polyphony as well as the chant. In this recording the Gloria and Credo have been transposed down a tone in relation to the other movements, in order to restore parity of ranges. It is also worth noting that, like other composers, Brumel includes Marian tropes in the texts of the Gloria and Benedictus: these additional praises of the Blessed Virgin were forbidden after the Council of Trent.

As with much of his music, Brumel’s Mass is notable for its fidelity to the plainsong, which suffuses the polyphonic texture throughout. What makes this piece unique, however, and characteristic of Brumel, is his manner of using the voices at times almost percussively, so that rhythm becomes the defining element of the music. The whirling Amen to the Gloria and the rapid stretto at ‘gloria tua’ in the Sanctus are the two most obvious instances of this, but even in the Kyrie the final sequential passage and the brief triple-time section in just the altus voice (0'34") illustrate how lively the musical texture can become in his hands.

The Kyrie makes use of three different mensurations: tempus imperfectum, tempus imperfectum diminutum, and tempus perfectum, which become equivalent to 4/4, 2/2, and 3/2 in modern notation. There is a clear distinction between integer valor and diminished mensurations in this Mass (in modern terminology, time signatures such as C and Ȼ, which though still in use derive from the medieval principle that a stroke through the signature usually halves the value of the notes). We have attempted to observe this distinction, hence the much more rapid feel of the Christe in comparison with the two Kyrie sections.

The Gloria, being a hymn of praise, offers plenty of opportunity for the type of boisterous rhythmic play in which Brumel excels: as early as ‘Laudamus te’ the voices are used in stretto, though phrases such as ‘Domine Deus’ are set in a more restrained fashion. The first trope, occurring at 2'20", is ‘Spiritus et alme’, the most common such accretion to the Gloria text in pre-Tridentine liturgies. ‘Qui sedes’ begins the gradual build-up to the climax of the movement, with a brief, duetting triple-time section followed by rhythmic syncopations at ‘Quoniam tu solus sanctus’. Further tropes elaborate the Marian aspect of the attributes of Christ that are listed in this section: ‘For you alone are holy, sanctifying Mary. You alone are the Lord, ruling Mary. You alone are most high, crowning Mary, Jesus Christ’. After a further triple-time section for ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ the final Amen begins with more duets in extremely close stretto (this is perhaps Brumel’s trademark) which develops into a three-note phrase, thus destabilizing the pulse entirely before the music somehow wrenches itself into an emphatic final cadence.

Credo I, the plainsong basis of the next movement, is characterized by an upward auxiliary or neighbour-note figure of a semitone, e–f–e, which opens many of the phrases of both chant and polyphony, creating a strongly unified form despite the span of nearly ten minutes. Due to the length of the text, the recitation style is used to good effect, for instance at ‘Deum de Deo’ and, as so often, at the most sacred moment of the Credo, the ‘et incarnatus’. Triple time is also introduced for ‘qui locutus est per prophetas’ and the final ‘et vitam venturi saeculi’.

The Sanctus begins with a placid triadic motif, again derived from the chant, in tempus perfectum (3/2 time). This gives way to a melismatic duet between altus and bassus for the ‘Pleni sunt caeli’ (‘The heavens are full’), which somewhat unusually is divided from the ‘et terra gloria tua’ (‘and the earth of your glory’) which completes the grammatical statement. As already noted, ‘gloria tua’ produces some of Brumel’s bounciest rhythms, once again subverting the metre by bringing voices in per arsin et thesin—on the upbeat and the downbeat. The Benedictus features the final trope of the Mass, describing Jesus as not only blessed but also the Son of Mary. Brumel provides a second Osanna after the Benedictus rather than repeating the first, perhaps because the Sanctus Osanna is dovetailed into the polyphony rather than beginning a new section. This second Osanna is in triple-time once more, though conceived more sedately than some.

Finally, the Agnus Dei is divided into the three sections that were customary in this period (up to about 1520). The first is based around a descending scalic motive; the second is a duet in which more scalic motion is heard, this time upwards and in semiminims. The final section is once more in triple time, first featuring very long held notes in tenor and bassus with superius and altus duetting above, before a final stretto section (‘dona nobis’) which again breaks up the regular pulse before a final cadence is asserted.

Glory be to God on high and on earth peace towards men of good will. We praise you. We bless you. We worship you. We glorify you. We give thanks to you for your great glory. Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty, Lord the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Spirit and loving advocate of the bereaved. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. firstborn of the virgin Mary your mother. You who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer to the glory of Mary. You who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are holy, sanctifying Mary. You alone are the Lord, ruling Mary. You alone are most high, crowning Mary, Jesus Christ. With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of his Father before all worlds. God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man. And was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. And ascended into heaven: he sits at the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead: whose kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life: who proceeds from the Father and Son, who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified: who spoke by the prophets. And in one holy, catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.